Fit Tip Tuesday!

These are some of the negative side effects associated with medications. You can continue on the same path or take a chance with lifestyle changes and these do-it-yourself remedies to achieve better health and a better lifestyle.

The April issue of Men’s Health shares the DIY fixes, that they claim, work just as well as anything you can buy in a pharmacy.

Instead of cough syrup, try a dose of honey: Similar to cough medicine, honey coats the throat, relieving irritation that causes coughing. Take 2 teaspoons of buckwheat honey, a darker variety that contains more antioxidants, to quiet your cough and avoid the dizziness associated with DM, the active ingredient in cough medicine.

Instead of NSAIDs or acetaminophen for lower back pain, try the Warrior Pose: Various yoga poses, while increasing strength and flexibility, are also therapeutic approaches to reducing chronic back pain and bodily tension. By spending time doing a variety of yoga poses, you can decrease or even eliminate pain medications and the potential liver or gastrointestinal that may accompany them.

Instead of painkillers for frequent headaches, try fewer pills, more sleep: Medication-overuse headaches can result from the frequent use of painkiller. Avoid medicines with multiple active ingredients and decrease your use of pain pills in favor of focusing on a consistent sleep schedule to desensitize brain areas associated with cranial pain.

Instead of antidepressants for mild depression, try retraining your brain: Battle negativity head-on with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a treatment technique focused on controlling your reactions to certain thoughts and emotions by allowing you to view these thoughts objectively. The “3-minute breathing space” is an effective MBCT technique that shifts awareness, focusing it back on your body and its emotions.

Instead of sleep aids for Insomnia, try a few late nights: If you’re tossing and turning, give up on trying to get sleep. By delaying your bedtime, you increase the chances of having a more sound and restful slumber. Because sleep medicines lose their effectiveness over time, push you bedtime up in 20 minute increments to help with insomnia in a healthy way.

Instead of laxatives, try turning on the waterworks: Drink two full glasses of water before breakfast to add fluid to your colon, making movements more rhythmic and easier to pass. The fiber in apples and bananas can also stimulate your bowel to move.

Instead of daily Medicines for asthma and allergies, try An air filter: Air filters can significantly reduce the irritants that cause the wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing that cause asthma and allergies. Invest in a whole-house air filtration system or purchase a portable unit to alleviate your symptoms.

Instead of antiviral meds for the flu, try jacking up the humidity: Because the airborne influenza virus can survive longer in drier air, increasing humidity can significantly reduce flu-virus survival. Purchase a humidifier for your bedroom and set it to 50% to combat air-borne bugs.

What do you think? Do you have some of your own remedies instead of meds?